New Jersey Transit

New Jersey Transit (NJT) provides bus service throughout New Jersey, commuter rail service in North and Central Jersey and along the Route 30 corridor, and light rail service in Hudson and Essex counties and in the Delaware Valley.

New Jersey Transit (NJT) provides bus service throughout New Jersey, commuter rail service in North and Central Jersey and along the Route 30 corridor, and light rail service in Hudson and Essex counties and in the Delaware Valley.

Covering a service area of 5,325 square miles (13,790 km2), NJT is the largest statewide public transit system and the third largest provider of bus, rail, and light rail transit by ridership in the United States, linking major points in New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia.[3]

NJT also acts as a purchasing agency for many private operators in New Jersey, with numerous private operators receiving equipment from NJT (primarily buses) for route service within the state not controlled by NJT.

History[edit]

NJT was founded on July 17, 1979, an offspring of the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), mandated by the state government to address many then-pressing transportation issues.[4] It came into being with the passage of the Public Transportation Act of 1979 to "acquire, operate, and contract for transportation service in the public interest." NJT originally acquired and managed a number of private bus services, one of the largest being those operated by the state's largest electric company, Public Service Enterprise Group. It gradually acquired most of the state's bus services. In northern New Jersey, many of the bus routes are arranged in a web. In southern New Jersey, most routes are arranged in a "spoke-and-hub" fashion, with routes emanating from Trenton, Camden, and Atlantic City. In addition to routes run by NJT, it subsidizes and provides buses for most of the state's private operators providing fixed route or commuter service, such as Coach USA, DeCamp, Lakeland, and Academy.

During Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, the rail operations center of New Jersey Transit was flooded by 8 feet (2.4 m) of water and an emergency generator submerged. Floodwater damaged at least 65 locomotive engines and 257 rail cars. It was expected to be several weeks before the resumption of service.[5]

Governance[edit]

The Governor of New Jersey appoints a seven-member Board of Directors, four members from the general public and three State officials. The Governor has veto power on decisions made by the board.[6]

Bus[edit]

NJT operates 247 bus routes using 2,477 buses [2] (leasing out the remainder to private operators) and the Newark Light Rail with 20 light rail vehicles (with numerous other line runs being subsidized by New Jersey Transit),[1]New Jersey Transit bus fleet includes buses purchased for other New Jersey operators above the 2,477.

Security[edit]

The New Jersey Transit Police Department (NJTPD) is the transit police force for NJT. It is a general-powers police agency with state wide jurisdiction with the primary focus on policing the numerous bus depots, rail, and light-rail stations throughout New Jersey. It employs 240 sworn police officers.

Projects[edit]

Ongoing projects[edit]

Repair, recovery and resiliency projects[edit]

Superstorm Sandy, on October 29, 2012, caused a 13-foot tidal surge that inundated many coastal communities. A report released in December 2013 by Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service found that NJT ignored flood warnings and did not follow its own damage mitigation plans.[7][8][9] The storm's aftermath left washed-out track; movement of bridge girders; flooded rail stations; fallen catenary and damage to more than 300 pieces of rail equipment left in low-lying areas. NJT has undertaken various projects to restore and replace damaged infrastructure as well as take measures to mitigate future damage and upgrade systems.[10] The creation of a "train haven" at County Yard began in January 2014.[11][12] NJT has proposed the construction of a new generator in the Kearny Meadows that would be flood-proof.[13] and support an electrical "micro-grid" that would be exclusively for train service.[14]

At the time of the Cut-Off's construction, the DL&W had extensive experience with concrete construction, but not on the scale that would be employed on the Cut-Off. All structures, including stations, bridges, interlocking towers and two large viaducts and thousands of fence posts, were made of concrete. Despite the lack of maintenance on these structures over the past four decades (and in some cases much longer), most are still in operational or near-operational condition. A 2004 study by NJT estimated that bringing the line back into operation to Scranton, PA would cost approximately $350 million.

Proposed projects[edit]

West Trenton[edit]

The West Trenton Line is a proposed service connecting West Trenton Station with Newark Penn Station, connecting with the Raritan Valley Line at Bridgewater. As of 2004, NJT's estimate of the cost was $197 million.[21] To date, no funding has been secured.[21] Service ran on the line prior to 1983.

West Shore Commuter Rail Line[edit]

While the Northern Branch has proceeded to the EIS Stage, The West Shore Route is still proposed.[citation needed] The route holds great promise since it travels through the heart of NJ Transit Bus Operations Midtown "commutershed", with four bus routes (165,167, 168 & 177) running well beyond capacity. The right-of-way has space for four tracks from Croxton Yard northwards to Dumont. Issues in starting commuter rail service are:

CSX owns the trackage and uses them heavily to link the NYC area to their national network at Selkirk Yard in upstate New York.

CSX offered to allow NJ Transit use of the ROW if the agency constructed sound barriers along the entire length of track for commuter operations.

A city terminal is not connected to this line, since the Weehawken & Pavonia Terminals were demolished decades ago. A loop connecting this line with the North River Tunnels into New York Penn Station where the West Shore Tracks pass under the Northeast Corridor just south of NJ Route 3 and Tonnelle Ave would directly connect this line into New York Penn Station. This configuration would provide a 25 minute travel time to New York Penn Station, but would bypass Secaucus Junction, leaving the West Shore with no transfer connection to the rest of New Jersey other than a possible transfer station on Tonnelle Ave with the Hudson Bergen Light Rail.

With these considerable construction issues, as well as no available space in New York Penn Station for West Shore Line trains, this proposal was put on hold until capacity into New York is increased.

In mid-February 2008, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine withdrew the Monmouth Junction alignment from the MOM Plan. Corzine opted to endorse the two remaining alternate alignments (via Red Bank or Matawan-Freehold, the latter which is currently part of the Henry Hudson rail trail. NJT is still planning to study all the routes as to not delay action further on the EIS, and says all three routes are still up for evaluation, although it will take the Governor's comments into consideration.

In late May 2009 representatives of the three counties agreed to back one potential route from Ocean County to Red Bank, instead of to Monmouth Junction, ending years of stalemate. Under that compromise, the line’s southern terminus would be in Lakehurst, and it would run through Lakewood along existing freight tracks to join the North Jersey Coast Line in Red Bank. It also includes the possibility of a spur between Freehold and Farmingdale.[27]

In August 2010, NJT received $534,375 in Federal Funds to investigate the possibilities of a MOM line.[28] Since that time there has been no further advancement of the project.[29] The inertia is partially attributed to the cancellation of the Access to the Region's Core project.[30]

Cancelled projects[edit]

Access to the Region's Core[edit]

NJT intended to construct a new two-track Hudson River tunnel adjacent to the two single-track Northeast Corridor tunnels built in the early 20th century by the Pennsylvania Railroad. NJT referred to the project as Access to the Region's Core, which would have used dual-power locomotives and a new rail junction at Secaucus, allowing for a one-train ride between the Port Jervis, Main, Bergen County, Pascack Valley, and Raritan Valley lines and New York Penn Station. The Lehigh and the West Trenton extension plans would require added capacity and the ARC project would provide that capacity.

The project broke ground in June 2009.[35] Both the Federal Transit Administration and the Port Authority made public commitments of $3 billion to the project. However, the project was suspended on October 7, 2010 due to concerns that the State of New Jersey would be solely responsible for projected $5 billion in overruns. On October 27, 2010, Governor Chris Christie made a final decision to cancel the project. Amtrak later unveiled the Gateway Project, which addresses some of the issues ARC was meant to resolve.